8 wk old, newly diagnosed, questions on Zantac

[sholden10]

Hi everyone. My son, Stephen (8 weeks old), was just diagnosed with reflux ... sort of. He has many symptoms, and his doc suggested we try Zantac to see if it helps. His symptoms: constant spitting up, sometimes projectile; frequent hiccups; arching his back while nursing; grunting and squirming at night; strong aversion to being horizontal, especially on his back. He sleeps mostly well at night on his back, with his bassinet elevated at the head, but he rarely naps. Even though he's falling asleep from exhaustion in my arms, if I put him down anywhere (crib, swing, bassinet, bouncy, car seat) he wakes up screaming. Otherwise, he cries very little, just squirms and grunts or whines. He's gaining weight very well and nurses every 2 hours during the day, every 3 hours at night.

He's been on the Zantac since Friday night. I think we've seen some improvement in the frequency and amount of spit up, but nothing else has improved yet. Saturday night we had 2 hours of nonstop, inconsolable crying.

:confused: My questions: How long does it typically take to start seeing results from Zantac, assuming we will? How do I recognize negative side effects from the Zantac? (like Saturday's crying ... wondering if that was a side effect, maybe a headache as I've read, from the medicine.)

Does anyone have any tricks for giving him the Zantac? He hates it so much and spits out as much as he can. I don't think we've really gotten a full dose in him yet. He's on 1 ml twice a day, the liquid form.

Thank you!!

[supermum?]

Unfortunately i have tried Zantac with both my reflux babies and it didnt work with either. it actually caused them stomach pains and i agree, it was impossible for them to take. even my 1 week old spat it straight back out. if you have no luck go back to your doctor and be insistent that you try something else. i know that prevacid works so much better and you notice a difference in a few days. also, and this might seem a little alternateive but i swear it has saved me, go to see an osteopath. my son had such bad reflux for 9 months that wasnt going at all and after just 1 visit to an osteopath (make sure you get one that specialises in children) he started actually sleeping for more than 10 or 30 minutes at a time in the day. it only took 4 visits and he is now completely off the medication. i really couldnt recommend it enough...good luck

[honeybunny78]

Zantac is only an Acid blocker...
It will not prevent acid!!

Try giving the medicine through his nipple on the bottle.
Mixing it with just a bit of formula.


~Rachel

[cathy]

hi sholden10, my baby boy had the same symptoms. our dr told us it would take about 1 week for the zantac to kick in. my little boy hated the zantac, too. to get him to take it, i put the medicine in a nipple topped off with some formula. the formula disguised the taste enough so he drank it down. maybe you could mix it with some expressed breast milk? or give it to him in teeny drops in the side of his mouth alittle at a time so he doesn't have enough to spit out. it will take longer tho. and sometimes it just upsets the baby even more. you would think they could make the stuff flavorless for babies.

good luck
:)

[kellyeb]

Hi, I had to give zantac to my 2 1/2 year old when she was a baby at 4 weeks. It was horrible it is so strong. well now I have another baby girl and have now found out you can get this compounded and add a flavor (we did grape) and it is a whole lot better and have no touble taking it. Kelly